Wearable satellite tracker

ABSTRACT

The Wearable Satellite Tracker (WST) is a worn by the operator and carries a two-way satellite transceiver that communicates to a Central Tracking Monitor a message with; a unique serial number of the device, position information (via GPS receiver), and the status of the WST. Optionally, the WST will have a satellite telephone interface to place a “ 911 ” or emergency call to the Central Tracking Monitor. The WST can be used anywhere in the world and requires no other local equipment. An embodiment of the WST is a Personal Flotation Device or Life Vest with the WST embedded in it. The Life Vest owner can trigger the Life Vest with a panic button at will or, upon being immersed in water, the WST will self-trigger. In the Alarm-state, the WST send frequent alarm messages to the Central Tracking Monitoring, a LED Status Indicator will show the operator of the WST its progress in sending a message to the Central Monitoring Center. These are acknowledged messages and the WST wearer knows they have been received. Both status checks and alarms messages will be sent to a Central Tracking Monitor. The Central Monitoring Center will then mate the unique ID of the WST and with its database information, and begin notifying the appropriate authorities in the event of an alarm message. Most importantly with the WST, there is no new equipment or personal needs to be added to the vessel or operation unit to monitor the WST. The WST is self-contained and includes a visual check for operator to confirm the operational status of the battery, GPS, satellite transceiver and communication to the Central Tracking Monitor. Test messages can be initiated by the wearer of the WST to ensure the complete system is working before the beginning a shift, or during, a work shift.

PRIOR ART

[0001] Schlager, U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,130, Oct. 5, 1999, Self-locatingremote monitoring system

[0002] Curcio, Joseph, U.S. Pat. No. 6,414,629, Jul. 2, 2002, TrackingDevice

[0003] Burks U.S. Pat. No. 6,317,050 Nov. 13, 2001 Water entry alarmsystem

[0004] McClure, U.S. Pat. No. 6,439,941, Aug. 27 2002, Automatedfail-safe sea rescue flotation system

[0005] Because of the numerous terms used in the various patents we willuse the term “remote” to describe the object or person to find and theterm “monitor” will be used to describe the person trying to find theremote.

[0006] Schlager, U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,130, Oct. 5, 1999, Self-locatingremote monitoring system

[0007] The Schlager patent discusses a man-over-board system. The remotehas a navigational receiver and a radio transmitter. The monitor has aradio base station for receiving the signal from the remote. The remoteand monitor radios are in constant radio contact. The alarm at themonitor is triggered when;

[0008] the radio signal between the two radios goes below a settablesignal level (establishing a geo-fence), or

[0009] a GPS (navigational satellite) location is correlated to exceed asettable distance, or

[0010] the transmit/receive time between the units exceeds a settablelimit, or

[0011] a curfew time is exceeded, or

[0012] a sensor on the remote is triggered (by water, smoke, heartbeator other sensor), or

[0013] the person hit a “panic button”.

[0014] The remote and monitor radios must have line-of-site. Theembodiments as a child monitor at a pool or a medical patient monitordemonstrate the short range of the device. In the man-over-boardembodiment, the monitor has a display showing location of the remote.

[0015] All these embodiments require the remote and monitor radio arewithin line-of-sight. This means that the system is a very local. Theremote is also very battery limited because of the need for constantradio communications. Ground or sea-level radio systems are very limitedin distance; it is a few miles at best and a few hundred feet in swells.

[0016] The embodiment of a wireless (cell) phone or radio-telephone inthe remote which allows it to call a preset 911-like number imposes asimilar line-of-sight restriction as of having of a monitor with atransceiver. That is, if the remote does not have line-of-sight with thecell system or radio-telephone of the monitor, the remote is lost. Atsea or on land, this is limited to a few miles at best.

[0017] The monitor, especially in the case of man-over-board embodiment,must have radio equipment that is installed, manned, powered, andmaintained. These is a burden for any vessel and useless to a lone-pilotor life raft situation. In any situation where the monitor must haveworking equipment and competence in its usage for this system to work,the remote is at risk even if the remote equipment is good workingorder.

[0018] Another embodiment is this system's use as a weather monitor;again we are at the mercy of a working monitor to gather theninformation from the remotes via line-of sight radio. To work over anylarge area we must install an infrastructure of monitor sites.

[0019] The Wearable Satellite Tracker has the novel approach fromSchlager that it does not require any local monitoring. There is nolocal monitoring equipment that will need monitored, powered ormaintained. In the Wearable Satellite Tracker all monitoring of theremote is done over satellite to a Central Tracking Monitor that monitorall Wearable Satellite Tracker in the world or with a specific privategrouping.

[0020] Monitoring the Wearable Satellite Tracker by satellite allows itto be monitored any where in the world for a central point wheremonitoring resources can be focused to provide full period service withqualified personnel. Nowhere is the term satellite used in the Schlagerpatent.

[0021] Curcio, Joseph, U.S. Pat. No. 6,414,629, Jul. 2, 2002, TrackingDevice

[0022] This patent has a GPS tracking unit and transmitter on the remoteand a local receiver. The local receiver determines the heading anddirection to the remote. The receiver then provides the monitor acompass heading and distance to the remote. The radio communicationspath between the remote and monitor radios is line-of-sight. The monitormust be paying attention to the device and the tracking equipment mustbe in good working order.

[0023] The difference is that Curcio patent is for a local tracking, theremote and monitor must have radio with line-of-sight between the two.In the case of a lone-pilot or no one noticing someone falls overboard,the device will not work. Line of sight on a flat surface like a calmocean is limited to a few miles if the monitor has an antenna on a verytall mast on a ship. However, if the seas have swells the line of sitedistance is very limited.

[0024] If the ship, which contains the monitoring device, should sink,this device is useless in informing authorities of the location of thesurvivors. Additionally, at sea, this device requires that each vesselor using the device must buy equipment for both the remote and monitor.The monitor equipment must be properly installed, powered, manned andmaintained. If the monitors circuits, batteries, antenna should fail,the remote is useless. Full redundancy of monitoring equipment is neededto ensure a high reliability of service. This is a sufficient cost foreach vessel to bear in terms of equipment, space and manpower. Thedevice is also useless for lone-ship pilots, air-plane crews, or liferafts adrift where no monitor is available.

[0025] On land the tracking distance for this system will be verylimited by ground obstructions and only good for short distances whenthe monitor equipment is available, manned, powered and maintained.

[0026] Burks U.S. Pat. No. 6,317,050 Nov. 13, 2001 Water entry alarmsystem

[0027] Burks water enter alarm system is a harness intent for childrenin a pool area. The remote (child with a water entry harness on) willtrigger the alarm on the monitor radio if the remote does one of thefollowing;

[0028] enters the water, or

[0029] the belts are unhooked, or

[0030] the radio signal from remote to monitor is absent.

[0031] This patent is also dependent on a line-of-site radiotransmission between the remote and monitor. There is always a localmonitor radio receiver needed. The patent is intended only for shortranges for children in a local pool or water danger area. It does notenvision itself as a global tracking for rescue service, but as a verylocal monitor.

[0032] McClure, U.S. Pat. No. 6,439,941—Aug. 27 2002, Automatedfail-safe sea rescue flotation system

[0033] The McClure patent is focused on the hydraulic pressure sensor asthe trigger for a life vest and a very simple controller, rather than aprocessor, for the logic. This design is simpler as controllers areclassically a set of relays for a fixed logic. It also does not have acentralized management for the system.

[0034] McClure uses a controller that is a fixed unit, which is it cannot modify itself as we propose in our application using a CPU(microprocessor). Controllers are classically a set of fixed relays orother hardware that provide the required logic and high reliability.However, the microprocessors are now very reliable and offer a greaterdegree of flexibility than possible with a controller. In our design, byattaching the maintenance unit, the software in the CPU can be changedto allow the variable number of sensors, change the way the sensors areperceived, and allow the unit to become a full time tracker, whereperiodic tracking messages are sent and alarm message are then sent whenspecific conditions are met.

[0035] The WST is proactive and the McClure patent is reactive, by thatI mean that the WST has a Panic Button where the WST wearer (remote) caninitiate the alarm at will. This way if the wearer of the WST feelsthere is impending danger, for example- the boat is beginning to sink,they can start the alarm before getting into the water. The WST can alsoadd other sensors that can be used on land or water for specialsituations; a poisonous gas sensor for a HAZMAT worker, or a shocksensor for mountain climbing.

[0036] We also differ in that we have a Central Tracking Monitor for themanagement of all messages and calls from the WST. The McClure patenthas the vest wearer calling the Coast Guard directly and giving theminformation. This has the problem that you must call the correct CoastGuard number and know the specific information they need to begin arescue. The Coast Guard does not have responsibility for the world orall waters. Since we have a Central Tracking Monitor, the operator atthe Monitor will have complete information for the WST from the database, alarm message(s) and now a conversation with the person neededrescue. The operator can customize this information for the specificrescue authority.

[0037] The CPU and Central Tracking Monitor also differentiate betweentest messages and alarm messages. This allows for the testing of thecomplete communications system and updating of the data base. This givesa great degree of confidence that the WST will functioning properly inan alarm state when it can be completely system tested before it is usedoperationally at the beginning or during a shift.

DESCRIPTION INTRODUCTION

[0038] This invention provides for the introduction of a higher level ofsafety for the Wearable Satellite Tracker (WST) operator, both in thewater and on land, without the need for addition monitoring equipment orpersonnel at the place of its usage. This is very important for smallvessels or operations which try to minimize the number of personnelneeded and equipment to support. The local operation does not need toworry about the powering, storage, maintenance and logistics of aseparate monitoring unit for the remote unit. The Centralized MonitoringCenter provides 24 hour a day service via worldwide or regionalsatellite network.

DESCRIPTION WITH FIGURES

[0039]FIG. 1 shows the high level view of the Wearable Satellite Trackerand its supporting system. Item 1 shows a large number of WearableSatellite Tracker units that can be supported but the satellite system.This is possible because of the very low bandwidth requirement andinfrequent traffic from each unit. Therefore the satellite systemdepicted in 2 can provide a communications path for a very large numberof remote units. We are initially deploying the system using theIridium™ satellite network. Iridium™ will give true worldwide coverage;Iridium also gives us a Doppler shift position report which acts as abackup to the GPS position report. However, it is possible that thissystem could use another satellite system, if that system's coverage metthe customer needs for availability. Item 3 shows the satellite systemearth station where the satellite system would interface with either apublic or private circuits providing either voice or data links to 5,the Central Tracker Monitoring. The Central Tracking Monitor (5) is a 24hour-on service that logs all communications with each Wearable TrackingUnit into the System Database (4) these both test and alarm messages,also a central Database also contains the WST owners registration andalarm contact information. The Central Tracker Monitor uses the alarmnotification information from the database to contact the owner andappropriate authorities (6), though various public of privatecommunication means; pager, PSTN, fax, email, telex, and satellite voiceand data system. These alarm notifications would like include thesatellite phone or fax of vessel where the Wearable Satellite Tracker isassigned.

[0040]FIG. 2 shows the subsystems of the Wearable Satellite TrackerRemote unit. It is a flexible design that can be incorporated intowearable accessories for both land and sea operations. The CPU (7) is alow-power processor to achieve the maximum life of the batteries. It iselectrically connected to the following components; an serial connectionto the GPS receiver (8), a serial connection to the System StatusIndicators (9), power wires to the battery (10), simple wires to thePanic Button (11) for manual activating the WST to the alarm state; andsimple wires to the Other Sensor(s) (12) this is a automatic sensor forthe WST, for example, as a Immersion Sensor when it is a personalflotation device of life preserver; the Maintenance Interface (13)allows a laptop computer with the custom software to communicate withthe CPU for software updates and detailed test of the subsystems. TheSatellite Transceiver (14) provides two-way communications with thesatellite system to the Central Tracker Monitor, and there is anoptional Audio (15) interface for the Satellite Transceiver to provide2-way telephone communications with the personnel at the Central TrackerMonitor. There are additional sensors (12) as required for particularembodiments as required, for example, a radiation sensor for nuclearworkers, poison gas sensor for hazardous material worker, air pressurefor a pilot, or G-force sensor for a mountain climber.

[0041]FIG. 3 shows the Light Emitting Diode (LED) Status Indicator (16)in which the operator can verify the operational status of the WST andit major subsystems. Most importantly, it provided an acknowledgementfrom the Center Tracking Monitor that the test message from the WST wasreceived. The operator of the WSR is shown the subsystem status withthree LED colors with each color representing a status of a subsystem.The subsystems are Battery (17), GPS Receiver (18), 2-way CommunicationsSatellite (19) and Total System Status (21). It is initially envisionedthat we will use the common light colors of red, yellow and green toindicate the following subsystem status;

[0042] Battery (17)—red (battery has insufficient power to run thesystem), yellow (voltage is low, battery will need exchanged or chargedsoon), and green (battery power is OK).

[0043] GPS Receiver (18)—red (GPS is not responding), yellow (poorquality position received), green (position received is OK).

[0044] 2-Way Communications Satellite (19)—red (satellite transceiver isnot responding), yellow (satellite transceiver is on, but notregistered) and green (satellite transceiver is registered with thesatellite system).

[0045] Total System Status (20)—red (test message has not been sent tothe Central Tracker Monitor), yellow (test message has been sent to theCentral Tracker Monitor), green (acknowledgment has been receiver fromthe central Tracker Monitor for the test message).

[0046] These are the planned LED colors; the availability of LEDs mayrequire a change in color that would meet production requirements. TheTest Button (21), when held down for a short period of time, e.g., 5seconds, it will be sensed by the CPU and the place the unit into a teststate where all sub-system are checked and test message is sent to andrecorded by the Central Monitoring Center. As each subsystem is checked,its status is displayed with a LED.

[0047]FIG. 4 shows the front view of an embodiment of the WST as apersonal floatation device or popularly called a life vest. Because ofthe thickness of a life vest, the components can be embedded into thevest material or into external pockets. In the collar or shoulder partof the vest are the two-way satellite antenna (22) and the GPS Receiverantenna (23). These are in the upper part of the vest to keep them abovethe water. They are shown here as separate antennas; they could becombined into a single dual-purpose antenna as those become affordable.The antennas are connected with coax cable to the processor packageshown in FIG. 6. The following items are accessible to the operator, soare located in the front of the vest; the battery pack (25), the StatusIndicator (26) and the operator activated Panic Button (27) shown as apull cord. In this embodiment as a Life Vest we have elected twoadditional sensors; an Immersion Sensor (28) to determine we are in thewater and a Belt off/on switch that tells if the belt is bucked. In theparticular embodiment, the operator can always trigger an alarm state byactivating the panic button, for example, if he knows the boat issinking or the unit will automatically alarm if the Belt switch is ONand the Immersion Sensor shows IN WATER, for example, if the operator ishit in the head and falls in the water and therefore unable to activethe alarm himself. The leg straps (30) to keep the operator fromslipping out of the vest when floating in the water.

[0048]FIG. 5 show the back of the embodiment of the WST as a life vest.The coax cable from the two-way satellite antenna (31) and the GPSReceiver antenna (32) are brought from the collar or shoulder mountedantenna to the processors. The battery, panic button, sensor, and statusIndicator connections to the CPU, Two-way Satellite Transceiver and GPSreceiver water-proof package are cabled with 33. The diagnosticinterface (35) allows the connection of the maintenance computer toupgrade software and upgrade software. The leg straps (36) keep theoperator from falling out of the vest while floating in the water.

[0049]FIG. 6 gives the embodiment of the WST for land use as a work beltwith suspenders. An example of those who would use the embodiment are;forest fire fighters, hazardous material workers, or adventures. TheTwo-way satellite and GPS Receiver antennas (38) are mounted on theupper part of the suspenders (39) to give them the best view of the sky.The antennas are connected by coax cable (40) to the electronics packagethat is clipped on the belt. The electronic package (41) contents aregiven in FIG. 7. Sensors can be inside the electronics package, forexample shock sensor, or outside on the belt or suspenders, for examplean immersion sensor, as necessary to get the best reading.

[0050]FIG. 7 details the electronics package of the WST mounted on thebelt with suspenders in FIG. 6. The components are inside a waterproofcase (43) and protected from shock by padding. The coax cables from bothantennas enter the side (44) of the protective case. The componentsinside the case are laid out so the ones that need to be seen or touchedby the operator are at the top so the are accessible by opening the topof the case or with a see-through top. The component at top are theStatus Display (46) and the panic button (47). The components aremounted in the bottom of the case; the GPS and sensors (49), CPU (50)and Satellite Transceiver and battery (51). As the technology improveswe see the entire WST unit being able to fit install a hard hat of anadventurer with special sensors based to the adventure, for example ag-force sensor to tell of a mountaineer falls.

[0051]FIG. 8 gives a State Diagram for the basic operation of the WST.The Start State (53) is when the machine is first turned on or reset.The CPU performs a boot operation and begins with a self-test, in whichthe GPS receiver (55) and Satellite Transceiver or Satcom (56) areturned on to see if they connected but not checked for a quality readingnor is a message sent. If the Check for Self-Test (57) shows thecomponents are connected they are turned off and the CPU goes to sleepstatus (58).

[0052] The CPU in the sleep state (58) uses the least amount of power,so to conserve battery life. It then periodically wakes every fewseconds and check the sensor status (59). If there is no sensortriggered, the CPU returns to the sleep-state (58). If a sensor is on,then the LEDs in the Status Display Indicator are set to red for theGPS, Satcom and System Status (68).

[0053] The GPS unit (55) and the Satellite modem (56) will be poweredup. The LED status for the GPS and Satcom are set to yellow when theseunits respond to a check, indicating the have power applied to them andhave Communications with the CPU.

[0054] After a sufficient time has passed it will check to see if theGPS location is good (61), that is accurate. The read out of the GPSunit will identify the quality of the output. The time, T, is set forthe normal cold start time the GPS unit requires to achieve a goodposition; the state of the art today is 45 seconds for a cold start. Ifthe lapsed time since stat-up is greater than T and the GPS receiver hasnot achieved a good position, the CPU will form a message noting thepoor position and send it. The LED status for the GPS will remain atyellow. If the GPS receiver indicates it has a good position, that isthe quality of the position is good, the LED status will be changed togreen.

[0055] A message is the formed (62), loaded into the modem buffer (63)and sent to the Central Tracking Monitor (64). It is sent as a testmessage if “Test-Status=True”, otherwise it is considered as an alarmmessage. When an ACK from the Central Tracking Monitor has beenreceived, the position message sending will be repeated, unless thisprocess was started due to a test. After a successful alarm message isreceived by the Center Tracking Monitor, if there is an optionaltelephone unit with the WST (65), it will try and establish a telephonecircuit to the Central Tracking Monitor. It will then repeat the sendingof the tracking message (61) after a delay of t2 minutes.

[0056] The Error State (67) is shown attached to the Check Self-Test(57). In the Error state (67) the unit will try to send this it statusto the Central Monitor Center (64). It is also implied that any detectedfailures in any state will send the unit to the Error State (67), thoselines are not added to simplify the drawing.

[0057]FIG. 9 shows the structure of the message from the WST to theCentral Tracking Monitor where; Byte 1 is the version of message, Bytes2-8 are the serial number of the WST, bytes 8-20 are the status andlocation of the WST, bytes 21-24 is the Time of Transmission, and bytes26-30 are reserved.

I claim:
 1. A Wearable Satellite Tracking system comprising:
 2. A remoteunit embedded in the personal flotation device, commonly called a lifevest, with a battery for power, GPS receiver for obtaining accurateposition information, alarm sensors that includes a panic button tobring the unit to an alarm state, a satellite transceiver fortransmitting the location and alarm information to a central trackingmonitor, a system status indication that indicates to the wearer of theunit the ability of each of the subsystems to function correctly andoptionally a satellite telephone interface to speak and listen to theoperator at the Central Tracking Monitor when in an alarm state; wherebysaid remote unit requires no other equipment or monitoring personal and3. A Central Tracking Monitor with a both a data and optional voicecommunication links to the remote unit through a satellite system(s)used with this application, a Data Base of information about each of theremote units including whom to contact if the remote goes into a alarmstate and when each system check was performed by the remote unit, andcommunications links to common means of communicating the alarm statusto remote unit owners and designated authorities including publictelephone voice, fax, pagers, email, and satellite telephone voice anddata. When a message is received from a remote unit indicating it is inan alarm state the Central Tracking Monitor will contact the persons ororganizations listed for that remote unit in the Data Base and attemptcontact the remote unit by satellite telephone, if it that the optionalsatellite telephone feature is included with the remote unit; and
 4. ARemote Unit Diagnostic and Programming Unit. This device would interfacewith the CPU of a remote unit via a electronic serial communicationsport and be able to retrieve all stored information from the CPU, testall subsystem components, reset systems timers, set priority on sensors,update software and send systems check messages to the Central TrackingMonitor. This unit is not required for normal operation of the remoteunit after the remote unit is initially programmed.
 5. A WearableSatellite Tracking system as said in claim 1, where the remote unit isattached to a utility belt and intended to be worn on land. Thisembodiment has a sensor(s) to automatically set the remote unit into analarm state, in addition to an operator activated panic button. Theseautomatic sensors could include water immersion, hazardous gas,radiation, or other detectable conditions which would prevent theoccupant of the Wearable Satellite Tracker for activating the panicbutton themselves.